


Overheard

by OldDVS



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-03 01:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19453546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldDVS/pseuds/OldDVS
Summary: Petunia overhears some very disturbing things while shopping.   A short bit of Muggle poking.  Written long before the Potter books finished up, so entirely AU.





	Overheard

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, I am just borrowing them because I think Petunia needs to suffer a little for how mean they were to Harry.

Overheard  
By Tara Tory

“Excuse me,” Petunia Dursely said pointedly to the tall woman blocking her way. The woman, who was a bit older than Petunia, looked down her aristocratic nose at her and blinked. Quite rudely, really. Then she stepped to one side, just enough to let Petunia squeeze by, if she so wished. 

Petunia lifted her nose a little, sniffed, and turned her back. She’d rather go all the way around than have to deal with a woman like that. She did so, heading around to where the teas were. Some people!

This put her in a very odd position a few moments later, as she was out of sight of the woman but could hear her quite clearly.

“Emma, dear, you were quite rude to that woman. It’s so unlike you,” said a warm male voice.

“Well, of course I was, dearest. Do you know who that was?”

“She did look familiar. But no.” The man didn’t sound all that interested either.

“That, Reg, was Petunia Dursley!”

“Really? That little rag? Lily’s sister?”

“Just amazing, isn’t it?”

Petunia froze, her hand on a box of Earl Grey. Her teeth came together with a snap. Lily. Lily had been dead almost twenty years, and it was still Lily, the favorite. Lily the golden one. Lily, showing up in her life again.

“I don’t know how those people kept out of jail,” the man said. “Poor Harry Potter, having to be raised by those Muggles.”

“Muggles can be very nice. Look at Fern. Oh, and Paul. He’s one of the nicest men I ever met, and he’s a Muggle.”

“Yes, I know. It’s just that those Dursleys are such stereotypical Muggles. Rude, mean and cruel.”

Petunia’s lips came together, hard. She should just march around and give those people ...her thought was broken off as they began to speak again.

“Imagine having a child to raise and treating it like that. Did you know the poor lad spent the first ten years having to sleep in a little cupboard under the stairs?”

“Yes, I read Harry Potter, an Unauthorized Biography too,” the man said. “I understand it’s rather accurate. Unfortunately.”

“They were well enough off. They didn’t have to treat him so poorly. They could have bought him decent clothing. They could have been kind to him. Her own sister’s boy! Family means nothing to that sort.”

“No, family was their problem. The book said they were so focused on their own child that they had no time or money for their nephew. I could understand, I suppose, if the child were a nasty little thing, but I heard Potter speak in person at the Quidditch World Cup last year. There couldn’t be a more charming young man in all of England, wizarding or no.”

“No thanks to them. Not even buying him presents for his birthdays! Such miserly offerings when they did send something. Or Christmas! Merlin, the boy saved the lives of over thirty thousand people in the last confrontation! He’s a hero. Not to mention a sports champion.”

“He was that before he even left their care. They didn’t even bother to pay attention to what he was doing. In the Infirmary a dozen times at Hogwarts, and they never even sent a card.”

The woman made a humphing sound and added, “I suppose they’re sorry enough now that they were so nasty to him.”

“Because of the money?” The man asked. “I hear Potter ended up with pots of it. The reward for defeating You Know Who was half a million galleons.”

“Well, that, and the house, and the fame. He deserved it all. They could be living with their nephew in the lap of luxury, couldn’t they?” The woman’s voice was a little further away. Unconsciously, Petunia moved along so that she could continue to eavesdrop.

“I’m sure having to share a house with Harry and his lover wouldn’t suit them. It’s a wizard house, of course, and you know the book said they hate all things wizarding.”

The woman laughed. “Severus Snape would have put them in their place. Did you hear what he said about the new Committee for Magical Defense? That man does have a nasty mouth.”

“So I hear,” the wizard said suggestively. 

“Good looking, in a hatchet-faced sort of way,” the woman said.

“Don’t see it myself, but I remember him from Hogwarts. Harry turned into a handsome young man, though, didn’t he? They chose a nice picture for the commemorative coins.”

“For all their abuse, at least Harry’s happy. He said so, at the memorial. How his own happiness was dampened knowing so many had died, but he was grateful for his home and his friends.”  
“Yes, he’s happy. He probably never thinks of those poor stupid people who raised him.   
“It’s sure they never think of him.”

Behind the row of tins, Petunia Dursley stood, the fire of envy in her heart and a stirring anger. There was book. With them in it. Anyone could read it, all those lies. Ungrateful beast. After all they had done for Harry. Nasty, ungrateful.... wait. 

Severus Snape? Lover? She clutched her pearls and fainted on the spot.


End file.
